Supreme Court to hear plea against UP govt order for Kanwar Yatra eateries today

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a plea on Monday, July 22, against the Uttar Pradesh government’s directive for eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners’ names.

The plea will be heard by a bench of justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti and was filed by the NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights.

On Friday, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government enacted the order across the state, days after the Muzaffarnagar police ordered all the eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners’ names.

News agency PTI reported that both Muslim and Hindu owners of eateries have begun to ask their employees to quit, fearing the impact on their earnings.

The order has been criticised for allegedly targeting Muslim traders and has sparked a controversy with both Bharatiya Janata Party-allied parties and opposition parties speaking out against it.

Members of the NDA, Chirag Paswan, leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) both have spoken against the order.

Another NDA member, Jayant Choudhary, leader of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, said the order was “not well thought out” and asked the UP government to reconsider its directives.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has also filed a plea against the order, which is yet to be listed for hearing.

Amidst the controversy around the UP government’s order, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, another BJP ruled state, has also issued similar orders, asking eateries to display the names of owners and phone numbers.

Any violations of these rules will attract fines up to Rs.5,000. The MP police stated that the order was not meant to discriminate but to increase safety and transparency.